My proposal is to create a series of closed vessel-like sculptures which sit on welded metal bases. These forms, loosely inspired by water towers, storage jugs, and hills, will be decorated with drawings that celebrate our animal companions. Our coexistence with animals, both domestic and wild, reflects the same interdependence we experience with the river and our natural resources. Often invisible, the migrating geese, the deer, and the dog, are all creatures we live with; they nourish us as we nourish them. I believe it is important to make work that connects people with their environment and to highlight the responsibility we hold to the world we live in.
This work will be made from high fire porcelain and decorated in black and white, using a combination of relief and brushwork. The high fire ceramic surface will be durable and bright and its presence outside along the Riverwalk with further serve to illustrate the blurriness between our domestic, ecological, and personal lives.
Yve Holtzclaw is a genderqueer artist and educator originally from Atlanta, Georgia. Growing up along the riverbanks of the Chattahoochee, Yve draws their inspiration from the conversations between humans and their environment. Specifically tuned into the effects of urban crawl, industrialization, commerce, they find inspiration in the parallels between the relationship of humans on their local ecology, to the persistence of invasive, domestic, and pest species that continue to assert themselves in otherwise “tame” places. Since graduating from Massachusetts College of Art and Design with their BFA in ceramics and art history in 2020, they have been awarded the Donis. A. Dondis travel grant, completed a residency in ceramics at the Kalamazoo Institute of Art, and organized shows both locally and nationally. Their work focuses on the intersection of the metaphysical and the tender through immersive, humorous, and nostalgic installations which explore how we as humans occupy the land, our bodies, and build community. They currently reside in Kalamazoo where they work and teach ceramics at the Kalamazoo Institute of Art.
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